“Well, before you go to sleep let me tell you of my new design.”
“Speak.”
“I have torn up the play I was writing.”
“Why, M. Ferminard, have you done that?”
“In order to write a better one.”
“Ah, that is decidedly a good idea.”
“A drama full of action.”
“Hum-hum.”
“M. de Rochefort, you are not listening to me.”
“Eh—what! Where am I—ah, yes, go on, go on—you were saying that you had torn up a play.”